Taiwan holds drills, says China seeks control of seas

Pingtung (Taiwan): Taiwan's foreign minister said Tuesday that China is using military drills to rehearse an invasion of the self-governing island democracy, while Taiwan's military began its own live-fire exercises in a show of readiness to thwart off a potential attack.

Joseph Wu said Beijing aims to establish its dominance in the Western Pacific and annex Taiwan, which it claims as its own territory. That would include control of the East and South China Seas via the Taiwan Strait and preventing the US and its allies from aiding Taiwan, he told a news conference in Taipei.

China says its drills were prompted by the visit to the island last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Wu said China was using her trip as a pretext for intimidating moves it has long had in the works. China also banned some Taiwanese food imports after the visit and cut off dialogue with the US on a range of issues from military contacts to combating transnational crime and climate change.

The U.S. has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, but is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats against it including a blockade as matters of grave concern. That leaves open the question of whether Washington would dispatch forces if China attacked Taiwan. President Joe Biden has said repeatedly the U.S. was bound to do so, in comments swiftly walked back by his staff.

The exercises show China's geostrategic ambition beyond Taiwan, Wu said.

China has no right to interfere in or alter the Taiwanese people's democratic process or interaction with other nations, he said, adding that Taiwan and the mainland are separate jurisdictions with neither subordinate to the other.